MOULIN DE VIGNE HAUTE
Built in 1831 and converted into a house in the 1970s, this former windmill stands among the dry-stone walls of the Causses du Quercy.
The client wished to make this family home more liveable, so as to welcome relatives and grandchildren.
Enlarging the house offered an opportunity to rethink its layout by placing the mill back at the heart of the composition. It now serves two wings: the existing one for private rooms — bedrooms and study — and a new one for shared living spaces.
Conceived as a new, inhabited stone wall, and built with local contractors using traditional techniques, the extension brings out the mill’s vertical form, which remains an important landmark in the village.
The interior spaces draw their richness from their materiality and their relationship with the landscape, framed by wide openings, in a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere.
A landscape of dry-stone walls
The extension reinterprets the local dry-stone tradition as a new wall. It continues the lines of stone that divide the fields, edge the roads and shape the Quercy landscape.
The extension: a new wing for the windmill
The extension puts the mill back at the centre of the house. Like a second wing, it holds a new living room and kitchen that are more practical, more comfortable and more open to the outdoors. A glazed entrance lobby links the extension to the mill, so the mill’s circular façade stays fully legible. The extension then stretches out lengthwise, framing one of the garden’s trees at its far end like a telescope.
An interior open to the landscape
Set apart from the village, the house sits in a large garden overlooking the surrounding landscape. Large bay windows open the extension onto a living landscape of rich vegetation and discreet wildlife. The landscape comes indoors and sets the mood of the interior. With the blinds down, the room becomes private again, and the outside shows only as a play of light and silhouettes.
A warm and comfortable space
The layout is simple and clear. The kitchen, dining area and living room are arranged around a fireplace unit to form one large living space. Natural, raw materials make it warm and calm: spruce and ash, a through-coloured concrete floor and exposed timber coffers in the ceiling form a restrained, tactile palette.
A vernacular know-how
From the outset, the project took its cue from the dry-stone construction typical of the surrounding landscape. The choice of construction method goes beyond technique, because it ties the extension to its site and its history. Stones salvaged from a ruined building in the neighbouring village were reused to build a solid wall 40 cm thick. This gives the extension a familiar presence in the landscape, while its contemporary design keeps the old and new parts distinct.
Construction system
The self-supporting stone walls are topped with a reinforced-concrete lintel that spans the large bay openings.
The roof is made of concrete joists and timber infill blocks carrying 30 cm of insulation. Left exposed, this structure saves material and shapes the interior, as does the floor slab, coloured through in red terracotta.
Inside, the stone walls are lined with hemp, flax and cotton insulation. Together with external sun shading, this lining protects the house from the sharp temperature swings of the Quercy’s dry climate. During heatwaves, when it is 40 °C outside, the interior stays around 25 °C.
All the contractors were based within 15 km of the site. The mason carries on the craft of the Quercy dry-stone wallers. The façade was refined through ongoing work with the architects, including site visits, sample panels, training and discussion.
